It was a long night Monday for the Atkins Red Devils as they took on Jerry Miller's Lamar Warriors. Lamar defeated the Red Devils by a score of 72-46 at Lamar.

The Warriors opened the game by outscoring Atkins 16-8 in the first period of play. A 22-10 onslaught in the second quarter gave Lamar a 38-18 lead at halftime.

The Red Devils fought back in the third period as they outscored Lamar 15-13 but trailed 51-33 going into the fourth quarter.

Atkins ran out of gas in the fourth as Lamar outscored the visitors 21-13 to pick up the season-opening win.

"I felt we did a good job for the first game. We've been practicing for two months and the kids were ready to go against somebody else," Miller said. "We had 34 rebounds tonight, that always makes a coach proud."

Miller was pleased with his team's effort in the win. While the starting five had a productive night, Miller was pleased with the performance of his bench.

"We had several players step up off the bench. Kent White did a good job and really hit the boards hard," Miller said. "David Milloway and Coty Storms had some huge rebounds. Jon (McCarley) was able to get some picks on defense and really dished the ball to those in scoring position. Coty was able to score in the paint and put several of their players in foul trouble."

Storm lead the Warriors in scoring with 23 points. He also had 10 rebounds, two steals and three assists. McCarley had 15 points on the night along with his six assists and six steals. Tyler Holt had seven points while Milloway and Eli Zachary each had five points. Milloway also contributed with eight rebounds and Zachary had three assists.

Also scoring for the Warriors was Dustin Goodman with four points while Kent White, Jarrett Tumbleson and Brandon Duff each had three points. White also contributed six rebounds and three steals. Rounding out the scoring for Lamar was Andrew Vire and Winston Moore with two points each.

Girls

Lamar 33, Atkins 31

The Lamar Lady Warriors jumped out to a 9-0 lead as they held the Atkins Lady Red Devils scoreless in the first period Monday night. In the second quarter, Atkins came back as they outscored Lamar 13-5 to pull within one point, 14-13. The third period was a draw as each team scored eight points. Atkins was outscored 11-10 in the fourth quarter to fall 33-31.

"I thought our kids played hard tonight. We needed a game to see what all we needed to work on," Lady Warrior coach Carl Ramsey said. "We did a good job on defense most of the night, but struggled on offense at times. We had good, balanced scoring. We just need to take this game and build on it."

Rachael Shaw led the Lady Warriors with nine points and seven rebounds. Whitney Brown had five points, four steals and two assists. Jamie Faubion and Allison Williams each had six points. Williams also contributed with five rebounds while Faubion had nine. Alex Holland ended the night with seven points and two assist.

Russellville JV 43, Pottsville JV 40

The Pottsville Lady Apaches junior varsity team dominated the Russellville Lady Cyclones junior varsity for three quarters Monday night. It was the fourth period that did the Lady Apaches in.

Pottsville jumped out to a 16-12 lead as the first quarter came to an end. The Lady Apaches increased their lead in the second period as they out scored Russellville 6-5, to take a 22-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Lady Apaches continued to pour on the scoring as they built a 33-25 lead headed into the fourth period of play. In the final period, the Lady Cyclones came to life as they outscored Pottsville 18-7 to pull out the win.

Mindy Cooper and Christen Pointer each had 11 points for the Lady Cyclones while Melaine Roach contributed 10 points.

Hector teams start strong

Hector opened its 2006-07 basketball campaign Monday night as they hosted the Oark Hornets. Hector won all four games on the night.

The Lady Wildcats opened the season with a one-sided victory over their opponents from Newton County. Hector defeated Oark 49-21. Lauren Nance lead the Lady Wildcats with 11 points. Sarah Killins added eight points in the win.

The Hector boys opened the season with a 75-46 win over the Hornets. Josh Stroud led the Wildcats with 22 points while Reuben Emerson had 21 points.

In junior high action, the Hector boys defeated Oark 46-15. Caleb Selman and Sawyer Pack were the leading scorers for the junior Wildcats with 15 and eight points, respectively.

The Junior Lady Wildcats defeated the Junior Lady Hornets 28-21. Hector's Kristen Woolsey was the leading scorer with eight points.